Articles | Volume 18, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2919-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2919-2025
Research article
 | 
07 Jul 2025
Research article |  | 07 Jul 2025

Justification for high-ascent attainment for balloon radiosonde soundings at GRUAN and other sites

Masatomo Fujiwara, Bomin Sun, Anthony Reale, Domenico Cimini, Salvatore Larosa, Lori Borg, Christoph von Rohden, Michael Sommer, Ruud Dirksen, Marion Maturilli, Holger Vömel, Rigel Kivi, Bruce Ingleby, Ryan J. Kramer, Belay Demoz, Fabio Madonna, Fabien Carminati, Owen Lewis, Brett Candy, Christopher Thomas, David Edwards, Noersomadi, Kensaku Shimizu, and Peter Thorne

Data sets

Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA), Version 2 I. Durre et al. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5X63K0Q

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present Copernicus Climate Change Service, Climate Data Store https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

In situ observations of meteorological variables from the Integrated Global Radiosounding Archive and the Radiosounding Harmonization dataset from 1978 onward F. Madonna et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f101d0bf

The Japanese Reanalysis for Three Quarters of a Century Numerical Prediction Division, Information Infrastructure Department https://doi.org/10.20783/DIAS.645

RS92 GRUAN Data Product Version 2 (RS92-GDP.2) M. Sommer et al. https://doi.org/10.5676/GRUAN/RS92-GDP.2

RS41 GRUAN Data Product Version 1 (RS41-GDP.1) M. Sommer et al. https://doi.org/10.5676/GRUAN/RS41-GDP.1

CMWF Upper Air BUFR data X. Yin https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/ecmwf-global-upper-air-bufr/

iMS-100 GRUAN Data Product Version 2 (IMS-100-GDP.2) S. Hoshino et al. https://doi.org/10.5676/GRUAN/IMS-100-GDP.2

RS-11G GRUAN Data Prod- uct Version 1 (RS-11G-GDP.1) N. Kizu et al. https://doi.org/10.5676/GRUAN/RS-11G- GDP.1

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Short summary
We assess and illustrate the benefits of high-altitude attainment of balloon-borne radiosonde soundings up to and beyond 10 hPa level from various aspects. We show that the extra costs and technical challenges involved in consistent attainment of high ascents are more than outweighed by the benefits for a broad variety of real-time and delayed-mode applications. Consistent attainment of high ascents should therefore be pursued across the balloon observational network.
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